Sunday, October 17, 2010

S'mores are one of my all-time top desserts, as I've mentioned before, and all variations of them I find immediately go on my to-bake list. Most of my camping trips have been during the fall. So with thegorgeous autumn weather and colorssurrounding us, these childhood favorites have been on my mind. Thus when Beantown Baker posted these mouth-watering photos of s'mores cupcakes, I was sure they wouldn't remain unmade for long.

Turns out I was right. These were just the thing to celebrate the recent birthday of my friend, Richard, who shares my love of s'mores. If you've ever stopped by this blog before, you know that I've baked my share of cupcakes. So you'll also know I mean serious business when I tell you these are some of the most scrumptious cupcakes I've ever baked or even tasted.

Just imagine: moist chocolate cake sandwiched between flavorful graham cracker crust layers and even more chocolate chunks. The best part, though, is the toasted marshmallow frosting that becomes delightfully gooey at first bite. So what are you waiting for?I hope I've convinced you to break out your torch and have some fun already!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 standard muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners; set aside. Place the graham cracker crumbs, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined. Place scant (just under 1 tablespoon each) tablespoons of the graham cracker mixture prepared earlier into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping. Place 2 teaspoons of chocolate in each muffin cup. Set pan aside.

Sift the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a large bowl. Mix these together until evenly combined. In a separate large bowl, mix together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.

Transfer the muffin pans prepared earlier to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with the remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture. Return to oven and bake until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer muffin pans to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.

Transfer marshmallow frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain round, star, or French tip. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet or other heatproof surface. Pipe frosting in a spiral motion onto each cupcake. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting, taking care not to burn the cupcake liners. Top each cupcake with a piece of chocolate or graham cracker, if desired. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water, making sure the water is not high enough to touch the bowl. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.

Prerna - aw I appreciate your compliments and your noticing my absence. My health has been down but is getting better bit by bit.

El - :).

Michelle - Ah I looked back through your blog and found it. I didn't realize the recipe was on Martha's site too. Guess you can't share a good thing enough :).

Trissa - I'm blushing! That's such a great compliment from you. Thanks!! As for the cocoa, Dutch-process cocoa is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. So I'm guessing that you want to use the more acidic natural cocoa in order to react with the baking soda in the recipe. Natural cocoa is also supposed to have a more bitter, intense flavor than Dutch-process which I assume the original recipe wanted.

Oh, are those beautiful or what?! Both in photo styling and in decoration, of course. I just made a s'mores inspired dessert as well, so there must be something in the air that calls for it! Happy to see someone else shares my enthusiasm for this killer combo. :)

Joanne - hahah. you never fail to crack me up, girl :). Rosa - thx!Chanel11 - aw glad you like 'em.Yue Edwards - you're too sweet! i have been making an effort with styling though sometimes I just wanna click once and get on with the eating 8).Kris Ngoei - thank ya!Koko - glad others share my love :).Harini - good to hear you can easily modify these. I bet you could make a vegan version with rice fluff or toasting some store-bought vegan marshmallows.Mei - :)diva - mm yes a tall glass of milk is a must!maameemoomoo - yes please do try it. the frosting is divine.Avanika - thanks. the smaller torches aren't really that pricey. I'd love to see what you make with it :).Michelle - Aw thanks, girl!Patricia - Happy early birthday. These were a big hit so I'd definitely recommend them for any special occasion.Hannah - hehe great minds...bigFATcook - thanks!Brittany - I appreciate it :).Jennifer - thank you.bakersroyale - it's definitely worth the effort. wish I had kept some for myself hehe.Carolyn Jung - that would me nice, wouldn't it?Nicole - thanks for the suggestion! just hopped over to your blog and saw the berry cupcakes. they look awesome.briarrose - :).Just Cake girl - thx!tigerfish - I'd make you some if you were closer 8).delicieux - woah that's a shame. I bet you guys can't get graham crackers either. Hope you get to try them one day :).Indie.Tea - hope you do. you'll love 'em I promise.

These look amazing, even though I basically have no idea what a S'more is! One of my colleagues tried one recently when he was at Cold Spring Harbour for a workshop recently and he said they were pretty good, but wow, these cupcakes look good enough for me to want to try making them even if I have no idea what the finished product is supposed to be like! Going to have to figure out an equivalent to Graham crackers, though. I ended up looking them up on Wikipedia at one stage because they seem to be used so much in recipes I see on Foodgawker or Tastespotting, so I think I've got a rough idea of what I could use as a substitute.

Angie - I think I just lucked out finding some good branches and leaves near my apartment. Thanks!

Jess - Oops! I totally forgot to explain what s'mores are for my non-American readers. My bad. Well as I said above, there're good recipes for making your own graham crackers online. Knowing you, I'd love to see what amazing rendition you'd come up with. S'more velvet cupcakes? ;)

Ellie - :).

Heidi - I just piped the frosting on with a large open star tip then toasted with the torch. Glad you like 'em!

I came across this last night and knew that I'd be making them today. They looked too good to NOT make them immediately. Mine turned out fantastic. Couldn't get my torch to work though, so I stuck them in the oven under the broiler to toast the marshmallow. Worked beautifully! And I must say, these cupcakes are sooooooo good!! Definitely have a glass of milk close by! :)

Hello there dear Xiaolu,Sharnee here from Tassiw, Australia just popped on over from The Red Deer blog! WOW these cup-cakes sure have a rating and congrat's too on the AMAZING pic you took of them!!! OUTSTANDING!! REALLY!!! So you've probably had Aussie's ask about these but I'll again.... can I make these?? What other biscuits can i use instead of the graham crackers???? Love to hear from you!Have a super day and thanks for a fabbo blog! LOVE IT!SMiles Sharnee :)

Hi Sharnee! Welcome and thanks for your kind words :). In terms of replacing the graham crackers in this recipe, digestive biscuits are probably the closest storebought replacement although the flavor will be somewhat different. If you're willing to go so far, here is a fairly simple recipe for making graham crackers at home: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/05/graham-crackers/ Hope that helps and please let me know if you end up making these and how you like them!

I looooveee these cupcakes!I should begin with saying that I do not cook and I've made cakes maybe two or three times till now. These however came out perfectly. Really easy to make if you follow all the steps.I used Petit Beurre cookies instead of Graham crackers since I am from Europe and we do not have those here. Also I've never heard of cream of tartar so I used something called Kremfix. It worked perfectly. I also do not have the kitchen torch so I heated the owen to max temperature and turned on just the high heater. After three minutes in the owen the cakes looked exactly like these on the photos!I made almost 50 cupcakes and they lasted one afternoon! great great recepie!Big hug from Croatia!

These cupcakes are fantastic! Has anyone tried freezing these cupcakes? I am wondering how the graham cracker and chocolate would hold up in the freezer after several days. I would like to make them in advance for a party next weekend.

I haven't tried freezing them nor have I heard from anyone who has, but as long as you put them in an airtight container I don't see why it wouldn't still be good. Freezing is definitely preferable to refrigerating as it holds the moisture in the cake better. Would love to hear how it goes if you try it!

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by and asking your question. It seems like one of my readers Cathy above had success putting these under the oven broiler briefly to get the frosting toasted. I doubt the toasting will be as even as in my photos since I moved the torch around the frosting at an even distance, but I'm sure it will still look and taste great! I do NOT recommend a lighter. Please come back to let me know how it works if you try this. And I'd love it even more if you emailed a photo thazt I could include in my round-ups of people who try my recipes =D. Have a lovely day!

Dear Xiaolu,thank you your visit..... Your cupcake sounds so greedy and delicious. I apologize about comments on my blog. I always leave a reply when readers write me, but comments do not appear and you canno't read them..... I am working to arrange things...... I hope it is going to work the right way,asap.Congrats.

Awesome! i had these pinned and finally decided to give it a whirl!i was short on time, so i did a boxed brownie with the graham cracker crust, adding choc chips and a hefty scoop of sour cream to the brownie mix. then did the marshmallow topping, which we browned with a blowtorch. yay! for fun in the kitchen!!!this looks super awesome--and was insanely easy!